Hi!
I´m totaly new to this 3D stuff. I´ve been looking for programs for the last couple of days and, of course, I found Blender and then stumbled over some others. One of them K-3D with AQSIS.
Could anyone point out the differences/advantages of both of these programs and give me tips on which to start with?
Thanks a lot
hmann
Hi, there is no freeware that even compares with blender. Use as many softwares as you wish, but make blender your mainstay would be my recommendation. it takes some time and patience to learn, because it has much to offer.
agree with Modron.
tested a bit k3d.
Though for uvmapping I actually recomends wings3d(export to wings,(.obj format) uvamp, export back). And also for some kinds of modelling.
how do you do uvmapping in Wings?
Yeah, I can’t get unv unwrap working in wings 3D, I can’t find it, but I really want to know, maybe I can texture my game models then 
found it, go into body selection mode, right click for menu and its the last item on the menu
JD-Multi, it may be something to do with your version number. Have you updated recently? also, i would like to add that while wings UV mapping tools work well on some objects, they don’t work so well on others, so it’s good to know blenders UV mapping functions too, which actually give you quite a bit more control.
all of the uv capabilities of Wings is now in Tuhopuu Blender
actually, more… well, somewhat
blender doesn’t have a way to generate a grid texture to see how your uv mapping is warped [at least that I know of] but it really isn’t a problem
the LCSM functions in tuhopuu allowing you to pin verts is very helpful for tweaking your uv mapping to fit even better.
Seriously? Like the select-faces-and-place-in-uv-groups function?
/me will have to get Tuhopuu in that case…
what about the edge cutting? that ones handy. you just tell it where to cut, and that’s where it makes the seam.
Tuhopuu Blender? is that another version of blender?
actually, more… well, somewhat
blender doesn’t have a way to generate a grid texture to see how your uv mapping is warped [at least that I know of] but it really isn’t a problem
the LCSM functions in tuhopuu allowing you to pin verts is very helpful for tweaking your uv mapping to fit even better.[/quote]
A solution to this is to open a grid texture, pack it and save it into the .B-file (that is Ctrl-U). Now you will always have a nice grid texture handy. 
Could anyone point out the differences/advantages of both of these programs and give me tips on which to start with?
Blender is a complete modelling, animation, and rendering package.
K-3D is a modelling and animation tool, but requires an external renderer.
You need a renderer, in order to produce an output of your scene or animation. Blender has its own lower-middle quality renderer, but has support for an upper-middle quality external renderer called Yafray. K-3D has built-in support for many Renderman-compliant renderers, which are technically quite different from Blender’s internal renderer and Yafray, and are more difficult to utilise for a beginner. Due to small inconsistencies in the implementation of Renderman-compliant renderers, scenes created in K-3D may suffer some compatibility-related problems when rendering. The quality of the different renderers differ somewhat, but scene quality ultimately depends on the artist.
Both programs use unorthodox interfaces, although Blender is more extreme in this regard. However, the Blender interface can be very efficient once you’ve learnt to work with it. K-3D, on the other hand, is quite clunky in my experience.
The bottom line is: Blender is a very widely supported program. It is easy to set up, and although the interface is difficult, it shouldn’t be hard to get used to for a beginner. Once you are accustomed to Blender, you should find it nice to work with.
The interactive tutorial system (macro recorder) of k3d is awesome, I hope Blender could have one.
Other aspects about k3d are awesome too ;), I am not used to them at all. 
what other awsome features does k3d have??
I just installed K-3D yesterday to take a look at it. Although Blender’s interface can be intimidating, it has a very integrated and compact feel to it. The first thing that struck me right away after launching K-3D was the very clunky user interface. Even though it uses a familliar windows-like interface with floating toolbars and tool-windows, it makes for a very messy environment. It seems that most mature 3D apps have left the basic windows approach (including high-end packages like XSI for example) and have a more 'integrated’user-interface that is tailored to a specific workflow. I think K-3D has a long way to go before it will support a real workflow as integrated into it’s user-interface.
K-3D is still quite early in development, however, there are some points that should be made about it’s status. The initial work up to 0.4 (which is now the stable branch) was geared towards providing a powerful, stable core from which to work. This aim was achieved incredibly well, and while the UI was to some degree neglected during this phase, it is still quite usable.
Current development efforts on a separate branch are to put together a completely new user interface that has been defined and designed by users for users. Work moves ahead at quite a pace on this, again due to the solid foundations laid during the initial phases.
Bottom line, while functionally K-3D cannot compare at the moment with Blender, it is (I am prepared to bet) going to take shape very fast, and in ways that Blender cannot easily achieve. If anyone here is programming oriented, I’d recommend looking at the source code to K-3D, it is a completely different situation to looking at Blender’s source, which is quite scary, even to an experienced coder. K-3D has a bright future, simply due to the fact that it has been engineered well from day one.
On the subject of awsome [sic] features that K-3D has, well, someone has already mentioned the macro recording feature, used to produce the tutorials, which is amazing in it’s own right. Everything is animatable, by the nature of the underlying system. System wide, multi-level undo. Seamless and powerful integration with Renderman renderers, and Yafray for those that need it.
Cheers
PaulG